


Hope's Peak is Sempiternal

by HALLOFdoor



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Metafiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 17:31:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15491016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HALLOFdoor/pseuds/HALLOFdoor
Summary: Phoenix Wright finds himself and those around him caught in a round of Danganronpa, along with some returning Danganronpa cast, but something's off, and I can't quite put my finger on what it is. Spoilers for all main entries of both series.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU where some of the more prominent Ace Attorney and Danganronpa Characters are roped into a new killing game, one that features elements of both franchises. All characters are the IP of their respective developers, and in no way do I claim them as my own.
> 
> Spoiler Warning: there will probably be spoilers for all main series Ace Attorney games (1-6), and also for DR1, SDR2, and DRV3. The scope of these spoilers will be limited, as the characters have obviously had their memories wiped, but some of the bigger revelations will probably come up now and again. A few characters from side games will be present, but it’s unlikely that anything will be spoiled about those games.

Hope’s Peak Academy. It was an idea that was constantly on my mind, like a jingle I couldn’t get out of my head. I’d heard that ideas got stuck in your head when they were unfamiliar. A good evolutionary tactic, to be sure; imagine you are approached by a strange creature in the wild, and it makes an odd sound. That sound will stick with you—perhaps you will consider devising an onomatopoeic word to describe it, and it will play in your head over and over until you can recognize this new creature from sound alone. It’s a way that we can train the neural net in our head to learn new things, and to focus on what’s important.

But when had this idea come into my head?  _ Hope’s Peak Academy _ . I couldn’t quite remember where or when I’d heard it. A sign somewhere, maybe? An article in the newspaper? A clickbait headline? Regardless of what method they had used, some duplicitous mastermind had whispered these three words in my ear, and I couldn’t help but be taken in.

Of course, I eventually caved to my curiosity and visited Google. A small school in Japan, Hope’s Peak was a highly selective private institution dedicated to cultivating the skills of talented youth. It shouldn’t really have meant anything to me, and yet I felt inexplicably drawn in. Surely, a quick trip across the Pacific couldn’t hurt.

Trusting Apollo to hold down the fort, I bade my daughter and proteges farewell and booked an overnight flight to Hokkaido.

* * *

“Wright,” he answered immediately upon picking up. “I trust you’ve been well since we last spoke?”

“Well enough,” I responded. “Any chance I could ask a favor of you?”

“A favor?”

“There’s a school in Japan. Hope’s Peak Academy. I’m at the airport now.”

“Did they request your presence?”

“No, I’m visiting on a hunch. I was wondering if you could pull some strings and get me in.”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“There’s a couple of things I want to check out, but I can’t imagine they would just let nobodies like me take a look around. I need some authority behind me.

There was a pause, followed by a sigh. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Wright. I can talk to some people in Interpol, see what I can do. I’ll need a cover, though.”

“I don’t think that part will be an issue. Take a look at the school’s Wikipedia page, and I think you’ll see what I have in mind.”


	2. Chapter 1. Welcome to Despair

_ Ow, my neck _ . I lifted my head from the ground, intending to crack my aching neck, but my forehead collided with something, hard. Baffled, I simultaneously opened my eyes and reached up to see what I’d hit.

I was lying under a chair, the kind you’d find in a school.  _ That’s odd _ , I thought.  _ Why did I fall asleep here? _ And then another wave of confusion hit me.  _ Where am I? Who am I?  _ The first question was dizzying, but the second sent me into a panic. I reached for the answer that was on the tip of my tongue. Oh, right.  _ Right. Wright. _

I was Phoenix Wright, the 19-year-old defense lawyer virtuoso, the youngest person ever to pass the California state bar exam. I had been scouted by Hope’s Peak Academy, a school for highly gifted students located in Japan. I was to serve as a member of its faculty, and thanks to the school’s worldwide renown and large number of international students, the majority of its studies were conducted in English.

I remembered arriving, and then… nothing. Everything after that point was blank. Perplexed, I wormed my way out from under the chairs, and found myself standing in a classroom. It was fairly standard, a blackboard in the front of the room with a neatly written “HOPE’S PEAK ACADEMY” and some smaller Japanese underneath. It looked basic; my limited knowledge of Japanese script allowed me to recognize it as katakana, but I couldn’t read it. Perhaps it was just reiterating the name of the school?

Wait. I was able to differentiate Japanese syllabaries? Since when? Ah, of course, I must have read up on some Japanese culture before coming. My addled state was limiting my short-term recall.

I shook my head to clear it and took another look around. There were windows along one wall, but the view was obstructed by what looked like a brick wall just outside. Weird. The building on the other side must have been built after this one.

The only other thing of some note in the classroom was a medium-sized screen in the corner, maybe the size of a computer monitor. Was it for announcements? I had never been to a Japanese school before.

_ I guess I should see if I can find someone who can explain what’s going on, _ I thought, reaching for the doorknob. The knob turned irrespective of the motion, and I found himself face to face with a girl who looked to be maybe 16. Her features had an Asian cast to them, and she was wearing some odd clothing. Definitely not school uniform material. A purple shawl over a light pink kimono, with a magatama necklace around her neck.  _ Magatama? _

“Oh thank god I found you,” she said, interrupting my thoughts. “The hallway was empty so I started trying all the doors, and I couldn’t find anyone.”

_ What?  _ “Are you a student here?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m supposed to be,” she said, resting her chin on her elbow. “But when I entered the front hall I passed out, and then I woke up in one of the classrooms.”

I felt a stone drop into my stomach. “I think something’s wrong,” I managed, pushing past her and into the hallway. It was dark, lit only by dim fluorescent lights lining the ceiling above nondescript lockers. The walls were gray, as was the ceiling. The floor was tiled, but in a way that reminded me more of a hospital than a school building. It was mostly white, but two textured blue strips ran along the length of the hallway, turning around corners at either end. There were two other classrooms visible in this portion of the hallway.

I ignored the visible classroom doors and turned right, walking quickly to the end of the hall. Something about my gait felt off. I felt a bit robotic, my legs overly responsive. It reminded me of being high a bit, a sort of floaty sensation where I couldn’t really feel the weight of my body as I moved. Whatever had happened, it had really done a number on me. I could only hope it would clear up soon.

Reaching the end of this segment of the hall, I turned to see another segment of hallway, though on the right was a set of double doors. The blue strips of tile stopped at the end of the hallway, and the floor tiling became uniformly purple, making another left turn. Double doors sounded promising. I hurried to them and tugged on one of the large vertical handles. Nothing. I tugged at the one on the other door. Still nothing.

“There were double doors on the other side, too,” the girl said, approaching me. “Those were locked also. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Phoenix,” I said, letting go of the handles and continuing along the hall at a brisk pace. “You can call me Nick, though,” I added, as we rounded the corner. This segment of the hall was all dark purple, in a way that was really painful to look at. On the left was a set of stairs, though it was blocked off by a dense iron lattice, like a store with one of those garage-door-esque shutters. On the right was another set of double doors.

“Maya,” she said. Her voice didn’t betray even a hint of concern, which was odd, considering the situation we had found ourselves in. Maybe she felt relieved now that there was someone older around. I couldn’t say I felt particularly calmed by her presence. “You can call me Maya. Why are the stairs blocked off like that?”

“I don’t know,” I responded, voice a little shaky. I pulled hard at one of the door handles, expecting them to be locked. I was caught off guard when it swung open easily.

Behind it was a short, dark passageway leading to another set of double doors. There didn’t seem to be any lighting whatsoever in this passageway.

“Let’s go,” I said, after a moment. With the light coming in from the door open behind us, we managed to navigate through the hallway without much trouble, and pushed through to the other side.

It was as if I had entered an airport. Noisy, bright, and full of people, the room I found myself in was too much to take in all at once. I stood still, Maya moving up so that she was standing next to me, and succumbed to the cavalcade of voices.

“Fucking finally.”

“Names, please.”

“Are you two the ones that did this?”

“Can the thing start now?”

“I’m so dreadfully tired of waiting.”

And then one voice cut through the others, like an ice-cold knife. “Shut up,” enunciated a blonde boy with glasses and a tie. He looked to be a little younger than myself, but his commanding presence was undeniable. Everyone turned to look at him. “You can come out now, Monokuma. Everyone is here.”

“I can?” came a new voice. It was a terrible screechy voice that reverberated around the room and somehow emanated pure malice. Before I knew what was happening, screens lit up all around the room, and a teddy bear walked in front of the camera. “Mike check, mike check,” it said, “testing, one two three.”

There is no good way to commit the horror I felt then to words. The bear was half white and half black, with a large red scar where one of its eyes should have been. It was cartoony, and I might have laughed in other circumstances. But the movements of this bear had an uncanny valley quality to them. Its mouth synced with its voice to a creepy degree, and when it walked, its hips swayed and its knees bent.

There were more than a few loud “what the fuck”s around the room.

“A reasonable response,” the bear on the screens said, nodding. We could communicate with it? “Though I would prefer if you kept the swearing to a minimum.”

“Um, why?” a redheaded girl in yellow asked. “What are we even doing here, exactly?”

“Ahem,” the bear continued, as if it hadn’t heard. “The Hope’s Peak Academy Executive Committee is pleased to welcome the new denizens of our wonderful paradise  _ to _ our wonderful paradise. I am Monokuma!”

“What do you mean, new denizens?” the boy with the glasses asked.

“I mean that you live here now!” Monokuma said. “This is your new home.”

That led to several people talking over each other in confusion and anger.

“Calm down, calm down, everyone,” the bear said. “You mean to tell me that you don’t like your new home? What a shocking development!” It looked down in mock dejection. “Kids these days, insatiable, I tell you.”

“I’m still not even sure where we are,” a broad-shouldered boy in a green trench coat yelled. “What do you mean ‘live here’?”

“I’ll tell you where we are, then!” Monokuma said. “This is The Complex. A masterstroke of architectural genius on the part of the late—”

“What happened to Hope’s Peak Academy?” asked the girl in yellow.

“Hope’s Peak Academy?” Monokuma said, appearing confused. “Never heard of it.”

“I call bullshit,” said a short, blonde boy. One of his fists was clenched. “That’s the common thread between all of us. No way that’s just a coincidence. What are you planning, motherfucker?”

“Planning?” Monokuma asked, unfazed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I expect you all to co—”

“And can we leave?” asked a girl with long hair dyed a light lavender. “Are we free to leave this complex at any given time?”

“I don’t know about that…” the bear said. “I don’t like your attitude!”

“What do you mean you don’t know about that?” I found myself asking, angrily. A few heads turned towards me, and I withered a little under their gazes.

“Phoenix Wright,” Monokuma said, grinning. “How glad I am to see you here! But I expected more from you. Can someone in the audience fill him in? No? Ha, well of  _ course _ you can’t, cause none of you know!”

Monokuma paused, but he got no response. “No response? That’s disappointing.” Again, the faux dejection. “Anyway,” he continued, brightening up once more, “there’s nothing left out there for you!”

There was an uneasy silence around the room.

“That’s right, the thirty two of you are the sole survivors of the apocalypse! Congratulations! Now go do whatever it is apocalypse survivors do. Eat, sleep…” he paused. “Other things…”

There was another silence, but then…

“Stupid,” the boy with the glasses said. His eyes were closed and he had a slight smirk on his face. Confidence. Maybe it wasn’t real, but it was certainly convincing. “Do you really think we’ll fall for that?”

“Huh?” Monokuma asked, paw to his chin. “What do you mean?”

“I commend you, Monokuma, for your elaborate design, but it’s patently obvious to anyone with half a brain that you’ve abducted us to star unwittingly in a doomsday-themed pornographic film. You would certainly get more out of child actors if they were—”

“No, no, no, nothing like that,” Monokuma said, and blushed. “Don’t do anything lewd during your stay here, see if I care! I’m not that kind of bear.”

“Who’s controlling you, anyway? There are more than thirty two survivors, if we believe your narrative,” the boy with the glasses continued. There was no indication that Monokuma’s response had surprised him. “And why are the survivors a group of 16 teenaged boys and 16 teenaged girls, and nobody else? Nothing about the lie you’re feeding us makes any sense. I demand to be let out of here this instant.”

“Byakuya Togami,” Monokuma said, covering his mouth with both hands as if laughing at a private joke. “Heir to a massive corporate empire. Though you can’t really be an heir if you’re the only one left, can you? Or when society has crumbled? Does many really still mean something if there’s nobody around to show it off to?”

The boy with the glasses, presumably Byakuya, said nothing. His confidence had slipped into something neutral. His eyes remained closed.

“If you reaaaaally want to leave that badly, then fine. There’s just one little thing you have to do first.”

“That’s enough of the mind games,” the girl with lavender hair said, her voice even. “I don’t plan on feeding into your power trip. We can figure out how to get out of here on our own.”

“Well,” Monokuma said, apparently taken aback. “That almost spoils what I was about to say next. Almost, but not quite! To leave The Complex, you have to commit murder!”

Just as the sentence began to register with people and they began to look around at each other in horror, Monokuma laughed and brought his fist down on a remote control. The room was filled with game show music and the murmuring of a studio audience. My legs threatened to give out from under me.

“If one of you lucky bastards manages to kill someone and not get caught, you get to leave and everyone else will be punished! But if you are caught, then you will be punished! A dark, gritty prisoner’s dilemma to satisfy even the most hardcore fans out there!”

“What do you mean by punishment,” asked a small-looking girl with a key-shaped hair pin. She looked to be on the verge of tears.

“Excellent question; glad you asked!” Monokuma said, enthusiastically, and his remark was followed by a laugh track. “Punishment means execution! Electric shock, drowning, stabbing, burni—”

“THAT’S ENOUGH,” screamed a girl at the top of her lungs. It was the sort of scream that transcended screams, an unnerving product of torture. The girl who had screamed was now collapsed on the ground, bawling. The people around her made a circle. She was maybe fifteen, maybe younger? Definitely the youngest person in the room by far. She had on a getup like Maya’s, but the colors were lighter. Maya, who was still standing next to me, gasped.

“Oh dear,” Monokuma said, and the music stopped. “Is something the matter?”

Seeing the younger girl cry tugged at something in my mind. Was I… angry? Wait a second. Fuck yeah, I was angry. Why was everyone despairing? That wasn’t the right response. That was a stupid response. Human beings were resilient, and even thirty two hormonal teenagers could be a formidable force if they acted as one. If we could only work together…

“Let me see if I’m picking up what you’re putting down,” someone said. It was a short boy with a white jacket and a checkerboard handkerchief. “Uniting against you is an almost  _ pedestrian _ response. If one of us betrays the others somehow, they get to go free. We’d have to trust everyone else here an awful lot to be able to take you on, wouldn’t we?”

“Hm,” Monokuma said, thinking for a moment. “That sounds about right, yes.” The girl had stopped crying enough to keep track of the conversation, no doubt looking for a glimmer of hope, a hint that this was all a big joke.

“And if someone somehow managed to kill everyone else, they certainly wouldn’t be able to be caught. If that were to happen, that person would go free?”

“Absolutely!” Monokuma said. “Though I must admit, that would be kind of boring.”

“So then,” the boy said, and his eyes grew dark. “If any one of us resembles a sociopath, and we work together, it’s possible that we may all die.” He paused, then he burst into laughter. “Amazing! Monokuma, you’re a genius! Forcing us to play your twisted killing game by isolating us from each other? Ha! Fantastic!”


End file.
